


The Duchess Intervenes

by LunaTheos



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, F/F, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Insane Harry, Master of Death Harry Potter, Smart Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2019-10-12 19:08:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17473313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaTheos/pseuds/LunaTheos
Summary: Cross posted on FF.net. When Spencer was sent to prison, she had been avoiding him so he didn't tell her about his imprisonment. Cut to three months after being sent to prison, Elanor Muirigan Potter Black, Duchess of Godric's Hollow and Black Valley, finds out about his incarceration and decided to investigate herself. What exactly is Ella's past, and what did she mean in the interrogation?





	1. The Visit

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Criminal Minds or Harry Potter, though I do have a Slytherin beanie XD.

Reid was holding his knees to his chest in solitary confinement. His hair was a mess, getting too long already and he shivered from being alone for so long, and his beard looked just as messed up as he did. Until his door was opened and a woman stepped in. Thinking this was another hallucination Spencer smiled - she looked so… familiar. So he smiled an honest smile and welcomed her into his new room. "Welcome, pretty lady, to my humble abode." He made a wide sweeping gesture to his cell, swaying slightly as he tried to get up from the center of the room where he was sitting. The woman sobbed into her hand as she looked at him, her hand over her mouth as she stared at him - he still looked defeated from what the other inmates had done to him.

The woman's name was Elanor Muirigan Potter, Duchess of the Ancient and Noble Houses Potter and Black, and despite the fact that her titles were of Britain, her words still held sway in America. Her sadness turned to anger, she whipped around and started to harshly speak to the guards behind her. "Why was he in the prison in the first place? The transcripts explicitly stated that he was to go to protective custody, not the prison." She demanded before going into the room. She sat down where Spencer was still trying to stand, though the stab wound in his leg seemed to be hindering him. "Sweetie, please, just sit down." She said, looping one arm under his arm and around his back to hold him up. "Hey, hey. Remember me?" She asked him, staring into his eyes, and seeing that they were foggy still. She turned her head back and called to the guard still standing at the door. "What was given to him?"

"We gave him some antibiotics for the wounds so that they wouldn't get infected, some tranquilizers so that he wouldn't do anything, and a Dilaudid infused cream for the pain." the guard told her, and she had to rein in her magic before she unleashed it and leveled the whole jail. He was a tall African-American, he was the guard watching her for this shift but he would be going on lunch soon. Ella couldn't wait, to be honest - ever since she mentioned who she was visiting he seemed to have a vendetta against her. She sighed before rubbing Reid's back soothingly - he was so far gone right now that he didn't even recognize her.

"After being kidnapped when he was 24, he got an addiction to Dilaudid. Please find a different pain medication to use on him." Ella told the guard who nodded and notified the another guard to spread it around so they all knew. They all knew that Duchess Potter would get whatever she wanted - if they offended her, they offended all of Britain and her allies. Not to mention she was known to be close to several people in power, in every form of the word. Politics? She's a freaking Duchess, and everyone seemed to owe her at least a few favors there. Public? One of her best friends was a journalist, and had gained traction until now she's almost globally known. Authorities? Another best friend is the head of the MI6 if the rumors are to believed, as well as having been a part of them for a while before her pursuit in politics, taking Britain by storm.

She hugged Reid to her body as she subtly swirled some of her magic through Reid to get rid of the drug's effects, as well as to tone down the effects of withdrawal that he would suffer later. She couldn't do much without it looking suspicious, but she at least gave the sense they were intimate, despite the fact was that this was the first time the two of them were meeting each other in person in years. She saw how the guard seemed to be infuriated by how she was helping Reid, and with a light brush against his mind found that he had a deep dislike for Reid, though why she couldn't get inconspicuously.

She ended up leaving soon after, though she had kissed Spencer's forehead to relieve him of the headache building up while she said goodbye. She left standing tall, even as she walked into the cafeteria of the jail. This was another reason she was there after all, and she would never neglect her duties.

The inmates catcalled her as soon as they spotted her, following her behind the guards as they tried to get her attention, though it wasn't surprising. They were never allowed to see women, and she appeared to be particularly weak due to her supposed 'upbringing.' While her dress was of a medieval style, it hugged her figure enough to entice but leave much to the imagination, which might have contributed to their attraction to her.

Once their yelling stopped, she smiled what her friends called her 'Slytherin Smile.' The smile she used when she was threatening someone, when she was unhappy with a result and was happy to tell whoever slighted her about their darkest fears, their greatest regrets, and used her observant mind to taunt and terrify them until they were nothing more than a slobbering mess.

Ella turned towards her guards and told them to wait by the door, that she could handle them. At some point, they had changed - while before it was two tall and menacing black men, now it was a white man of average height burly build and a tall Hispanic man of a similar build. They told her that they couldn't leave, but they did give her enough distance that they wouldn't hear what she said, nor could they help her quickly if the inmates decided to fight her. She turned towards the group of inmates sitting in the back, and the air grew colder around her. "Hello, my name is Elanor Muirigan Potter-Black. You may know me better by the title the press have given, the Duchess." There were a few gasps around the room, and a few of the inmates looked hopeful as they saw her. She'd scanned all their minds though - none of them were innocent in her mind, not after what they'd done to someone she loved.

"I came here today to do one of my routine checks, to see if anyone was remorseful. If anyone was repentant of their actions and rehabilitated enough to rejoin the rest of the world." She called, and a few inmates seemed to lean in, hoping that they were among those that the Duchess had found worthy.

"Today however, I found that there was only a single man who was wrongfully imprisoned. He's an acquaintance of mine that I knew years ago, and I know him too well to believe that he'd do what he's been accused of. You all should know about how I feel about wrongfully imprisoned individuals, you all know the story of my godfather." She announced to all the inmates in the yard, her smile still on her face as she looked each inmate in the eye, especially Shaw, Frazier and Duerson. "However, I know that I will be the one who makes sure you all know who you've angered now, know who is out to ruin each and every one of you because of this." She took her left hand out of her pocket and showed off her signature jade bangle the same otherworldly green as her eyes.

"I am the Duchess, I am a kind and benevolent benefactor to convicts who can and will be rehabilitated. I go around the world, not only to work as CEO of Phoenix Corporation, but also to help those in need, those who don't have the basic rights, those who are starving to death or are being mistreated by those who should be protecting them. Today however, today I am an angered friend who will rain hell on each and every one of you who've harmed one of my few loved ones. Had I known he was here, I would have taken him out immediately, but I was sadly away on business." She seemed to be ten feet tall as she looked down on all the inmates there and most of them swore they saw snakes and owls staring at them as she continued to speak. Her crimson hair, like the blood many of them craved at one point or another, swirled around her, the soft waves shifting with her every movement as she condemned them with her terrifying green eyes.

"When you leave this place, you will find no one will employ you, especially as even the kind and fair Duchess doesn't see any good in any of you. Your families will forget you, hide away as they see you draw near and pretend that they don't know you other than by what you've done in here or out there. You will never truly feel safe anywhere anymore, the ghosts of those you've hunted or hurt will haunt you forever. You will not be given the resources my people send to every worthy ex criminal, and find that no one will ever see you as truly human ever again. No matter what you do.

The inmates looked shaken, but Shaw was the first to speak up. "So what? Who's this friend that's so precious that you'd ruin all of our lives over 'em?" He shivered as her eyes seemed to start glowing as she turned towards him.

"Calvin Shaw. You know him, I assume." She walked closer to him until she was whispering in his ear. "After all, you stabbed him in the leg." She danced away as Shaw flinched under the full power of her gaze. "But you weren't the only one to hurt him, were you?" She looked at Duerson and Frazier. "After all, you two killed his only friend here, didn't you? I've already filed for your sentences to be extended because of that." Her eyes flashed menacingly. "It's quite simple with the video evidence I provided, after all." She saw them step back as she walked towards them next. "Tell me, do you fear death?" She asked them suddenly, and it got even colder, the room was suddenly darker and the feeling of dread was growing in each of the inmates.

Unseen by the wardens, snakes started to slither into the room from the nearby land, feeling the rage of a Speaker. "Do you feel powerful as you kill each other, kill someone's brother or sister, someone's daughter or son, another human's loved ones?" She was looking down on them again, her eyes judging them. "How would you feel if I tore out your heart, or better yet your most dear person's heart in front of you?" Her voice was soft, but all the convicts could hear her - the guards were clueless of what was being said, just that the inmates had finally shut up and were listening to the woman in front of them. With a weak spell she forced the image of her doing tearing them apart into their minds. "What if I cut them up into pieces and laugh while they cried out your name in anguish as the life slowly bled out of them? Because I can do that. And I will if I hear any of you wrong one of mine again." She stopped the spell and showed them the Black Madness that had been festering in her since she heard that Spencer was in the prison, her eyes shining with insanity and her hair suddenly darker as she set her eyes on each of the convicts.

She turned in a swirl of her skirts and made to leave, though she abruptly stopped. There was a shiv sticking out of her shoulder now, and Shaw was still in the follow through position. She turned slowly, and tutted under her breath. "Ah right, you never answered my question Calvin." She hissed, nearly speaking in parseltongue when she spoke his name. "Do you fear death?" Her eyes turned completely black, the sign of the Hollows burning on her forehead, causing some of the inmates to try and run, screaming she was a demon as they fled - the guards were bewildered, they saw the Duchess just standing there, though they assumed she must have a terrifying glare for the convicts to run like that. But Shaw stood still, he was frozen in his place as the twin black holes that were the Duchess's eyes captured him. "You should, after all - there is no place for you to run while you're dead." All of a sudden, the warmth flooded back into the room, it was bright once more and Ella was playing a wounded victim to the guards, who just ate it up as a reason to make life even worse for the inmates

None of them but Shaw, Frazier and Duerson saw the insane smile she wore as she left, nor did they miss the way that her eyes flashed golden before they returned to their intense green. They would never forget her face, not when she would haunt every dream they ever had, not when she taunted them and hung the sword of Damocles above each and every one of their heads, constantly afraid that their next victim will be someone she's claimed as hers.

From then on, every inmate that saw the Duchess that day would ultimately go insane. They would swear that the 'demon,' was coming after them, that a monster was in every corner. Most people understood the monster as Calvin Shaw, after all - he'd harmed the one so many call a saint, tried to kill her while she was introducing herself to the inmates. The guards that day told their friends that the Duchess has a fearsome glare, which was true - she'd used it while she was facing politicians, and it was common knowledge.

The inmates would swear that there were snakes covering them from head to toe, constricting them and making hard to breathe whenever they had thoughts of harming another. They told anyone who'd listen that there were owls that would watch them, that were just waiting for the signal from the demon to finish them for her. None of them were ever taken seriously though, after all they were convicts that stood by as one of theirs harmed the Duchess, the greatest philanthropist and humanitarian living now.

They all ended up living long, terrible lives. Each and every one of them, no matter what they did bad luck would befall them. They couldn't get regular jobs, they would break parole to 'get away from the demon's servants,' and they hurt others when they thought that it would get the demon away from them.

Even in death, they weren't safe - the Mistress of Death wouldn't allow it.


	2. Wait, the Duchess?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The BAU gets further in their investigation, but any plans they had gets thrown out the window as they find many of their ideas had already been put to action.

A/N Disclaimer I don't own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds, I'm just an avid fan of both.

Three days later, JJ and Luke arrived in the prison in her SUV, JJ was taken through the prison, passing many inmates cells while Luke had gone over to meet a certain inmate to tell him of his fate. She found it strangely quiet in the prison, the last time they'd been there the convicted were yelling out catcalls and derogatory comments since they were part of the FBI. She shrugged it off and went into the meeting room of the prison and saw Spencer. She strained to smile at him, knowing that this would mean so much- he'd been in here for so long, and he'd lost so much of himself to this place, but she was happy to be the one to deliver this piece of news. "We're taking you home." She said, tears building in her eyes. Spencer took a few seconds to understand her words before a smile broke onto his face and he hugged JJ with all he had, which the blonde was happy to reciprocate.

They left the interview room to pick up Spencer's things, and the guards seemed to let a breath of relief out as they saw him leaving, which confused JJ - there was something she was missing, but she was riding too much of an endorphin high right now to question it. He changed into a suit that JJ had brought for him, though it looked a bit big on him now - he was thinner than he was before prison, and it wasn't until now that the profiler really noticed it. The thought brought her down a bit, but she resolved to feed him and bring him up to a healthier weight now that she could.

Alvez was waiting outside once Spencer finished changing, standing behind him as he walked out of the building on his own two feet. He and JJ stayed behind him, making sure that none of the inmates were going to attack him as he left, prison guards flanking them as well for the same reason. They walked a brisk pace, both anxious to get away as quickly as possible.

Spencer stopped just before the gates leading out of the prison yard and seemed to steady himself; it was slightly difficult to believe that he was finally getting out of this god awful place. He took a steadying breath before taking his first step out of prison in three months. Unseen just slightly passed him, a red head smiled under her cloak, her eyes shining happily as she saw him leave this cursed building. She knew this wouldn't just go away for him, no matter how good he was at compartmentalizing - she'd seen her godfather suffer in silence for months after he got out of prison, and she wouldn't allow Spencer to go through the same thing when she could prevent it. She smiled as he hugged the bespectacled woman of the team, Penelope Garcia, and how the blonde teared up seeing him again. With a swish of her cloak she was gone, preparing the next steps of her plan.

That night, Luke started to think about the events at the prison. When he had started putting into motion the transfer of Calvin Shaw, it was simple - almost too simple, the paper work had been prepared already and in order of most important to least. He hadn't even needed to call any of his contacts to do it, the office had heard his request and just emailed him everything necessary - said 'the Lady' had already prepared it. He set the thought aside as he pulled all the strings into place, but he still wondered why it was so, and who 'the Lady,' was.

When he went to the prison to tell Shaw about what was going to happen, and why it was going to happen, Shaw was confident at first, but as Luke finished his digs about the Brockler family, he seemed to collapse in on himself slightly. "That demon has already condemned me, already she's taking away my son. What left is she going to do to me?" He asked with helpless eyes once Alvez told him about what was going to happen. "She's already come, she promised I wouldn't die until I was punished for hurting one of hers. Everyone knows what happens when someone touches one of hers, why didn't they warn us he was?" Shaw was starting to get frantic, yelling and lunging towards Luke. The guards had to shove him back into his cell, leaving Alvez to question who this 'demon,' was and if she was related to 'the Lady.'

Line Break

At the same time, in the BAU office, Quantico.

"I can't thank you enough for going out on a limb for this." Emily was talking to the judge over the phone, showing her gratitude for her listening to her and releasing Spencer.

"Don't thank me Agent Prentiss, you're the one who risked everything." Emily could almost hear the smile on the judge's face as she said this.

Emily sighed, she was slightly fatigued from all the work she and the team had put in to pull this off. "I did what I had to." Emily told her, leaning back against the wall.

"I'm just glad for his sake, for everybody's sake, that your analyst was able to get the prints in on time." The judge admitted, "and that the Duchess had deemed fit to submit her evidence that he was at the very least coerced into doing it."

"It was no short order - wait, the Duchess?" Emily asked. "As in, Duchess Elanor Muirigan Potter-Black Duchess?" Emily had thoughts swirling in her mind, what was the Duchess doing looking to Spencer's case? Why had she chosen his, she normally only took convicts after they got out or while they were going through their trials. Granted, Spencer wasn't given much of a trial, but still - this was different from her usual case as well, she stuck to fighting for convicts who were wrongly accused and convicted, Reid hadn't even been truly convicted, he wasn't supposed to be in the prison at all!

"Yes, while you were out to talk to your analyst, one of the secretaries came in and handed us the photos of the crime scene, this time pointing out the flaws in the initial investigation." The judge told her, slightly puzzled. "She found evidence of the scopolamine on his clothes, it had degraded quite a bit but she calculated the amount of used on him to force him into such a frenzy." The judge sighed with a pleasant smile. "You must be very persuasive to get her in on a case like this, this is very different from her usual cup of tea." She chuckled at her own joke.

"Ah, well… I wanted to apologize for my conduct in your chambers," Emily knew she wasn't being subtle in her topic change, she had to discuss this with the team, this could be a game changer and they'd need to decide what to do with it. "I nearly allowed my emotions to carry me, and the situation - it was out of line." Prentiss apologized sincerely.

"Oh, given the circumstances, it's more than understandable." The older woman told Prentiss, knowing that the whole situation had brought a lot of stress onto the whole BAU team.

"Thank you again, your honor." Tears threatened to fall as Emily felt the utter relief rush through her, she felt the weight of having one of her friends in jail off of her shoulders now and nearly sagged with relief. But the case wasn't closed yet, and they had to figure out where the Duchess fit in with all of this.

"Have a good night, Agent Prentiss." The older woman heard the slight relief in the agent's voice and decided it was a good time to end the conversation.

"You too." Emily hung up and stared at the wall in front of her - if it really was the Duchess, this would be dealt with very quickly - her connections were much more extensive than the BAU's all together.

Line Break

The round table, Quantico, Virginia.

"So we know Lindsey convinced Scratch to run drugs across the border." Alvez started, leaning his weight on the table. The team were gathered around the round table and filling Spencer in on what he'd missed while he'd been… away.

"And that Lindsey's been operating from two locations, the apartment next to Reid and the house in DC." Rossi continued, his hands in his pockets in a relaxed manner, though his posture said he was very aware of everything at the moment.

"And that's where we think he's keeping your mom." Walker told him, nodding his head in agreement with everyone else.

"Scratch isn't afraid to plot an elaborate trap, I want blueprints of the building before we leave." Emily looked at everyone in the room. "But there's another point that makes this a bit more complicated as well - the Duchess has become involved in this case." She told everyone - JJ and Luke looked at each other before adding their two cents.

"The inmates were oddly quiet when I went to see Reid, usually they're yelling insults and catcalls as I walk past them." JJ told the team, her curiosity getting the better of her. "There were mutterings of 'the Demon claiming him,' when they saw Reid as we walked out too."

"The office ladies were talking about how 'the Lady,' had prepared all the work for Shaw's transfer already when I asked about it and just needed me to fill in a few blanks." Luke told them, his arms crossed over his chest. Spencer had paled, a great feat considering that he was already so pale from his time in prison, and he started staring into space. "Shaw mentioned that a 'demon,' had convicted him as well, that he had nothing more to lose since whoever this 'demon,' is was already taking it all away." Luke made special emphasis on the word demon, disbelief clear in his voice.

"She actually came?" Spencer muttered to himself, gathering the attention of the team. He shook his head before he noticed they were all staring at him. "That's… my fault, I guess." Spencer told the group, brushing a hand through his too-long hair. "We know each other, we're kind of… friends?" He awkwardly told the team, a hand in his hair and a slight blush on his cheeks as they gaped at him. Many jaws dropped at the revelation - shy, agoraphobic Spencer knew one of, if not the most sought after woman in the world. Penelope muttered something about Prince Harry's phone number, making JJ stifle a laugh despite herself.

Prentiss shook out of it first as she got a text. She read it quickly before sharing the news with her team. "Well, she's on the case now, and apparently a few steps ahead of us. She's got local police working with her already, and she's agreed to allow us to storm the house with her tonight. She'll be going in as well, she's getting the plans for the house and is already stationing the officers around it. Let's get moving, people." Emily told them, and Garcia walked up to Spencer before as they were all leaving. "Don't think you're going to get out of telling me all the details once this is over, Junior G-man." She pointed her finger at him dangerously before she left, and Spencer nodded before making his way to the door. Emily stopped him before he could leave with the rest of the team. "Spencer, you can't officially go until you're reinstated." She told him slightly apologetically.

"So that includes going to my apartment, since it's a crime scene." He affirmed slowly, testing the waters slightly - it was a bit of a jump for the team to believe that he knew the most desirable bachelorette of this year and managed to keep it away from all of them.

"That's right, it's sealed." She told him firmly. "And guarded by metro PD." She told him firmly, then glanced at JJ for a second and continued. "But you are the resident, you got it?" She confirmed slowly before leaving as well.

Line Break

JJ brought Spencer to his apartment to grab some of his things while he couldn't stay there. However, his attention gravitated to his scrap, his brow furrowing as he looked at the picture that laid there. I was an old news article he'd clipped to a different page - on the back, written in red was XX-XY. JJ asked if it meant anything to him, but he didn't know anything but the obvious - male and female chromosomes, and so he took it as Lindsey saying she was with Scratch.

Line Break

The police were ready, blocking off all possible escapes when the agents arrived. In front of them was the Duchess, a map in her hands directing the officers on where they were to go. She spotted them and strode towards them with purposeful strides. Her hair had been tied into a dutch braid, trailing down to the middle of her back, she wore a completely black skin tight outfit and no bullet proof vest, which confused the profilers.

"It's a new product we're selling to the Army right now. It absorbs shock and distributes it evenly, this is the test in a civil environment to see how well it works." She explained herself quickly, her accent crisp and clean. "Hi, my name is Elanor though you probably know that already - I'm sure Spencer's told you about me?" She asked, but saw no confirmation and huffed out a self deprecating laugh. "I see, well it was kinda rough, no worries. Call me Ella, it's shorter and everyone calls me that, I'm a licensed PI and have two doctorates and a bachelor's degree, criminology, computer science and psychology respectively. I've studied first aid and I've been told I'm a pretty decent shot." She introduced herself and shook their hands before jumping right into the plan so far. "I've already prepped the officers around the perimeter, the rest is your call, Agent Prentiss." She told the section chief primly, standing at parade rest despite herself, "though you have to account for me as well." Prentiss nodded and started barking orders at the team.

In the house, there were two people - a man and a woman, both approximately the heights of Scratch and Lindsey, though neither were reminiscent of them in the slightest. The girl was holding an envelope and said that 'she,' who they assumed to be Lindsey, had left it for them. Inside the envelope was a tablet with a prerecorded video on the screen as soon as it was turned on. There was Cat Adams, and a faint growl was heard as they listened to her message - Ella was glaring at it ferociously.

"I see." Ella glanced around the room for a minute before she pulled out a different gun and pointed it at the two with their hands up. The BAU team tensed wondering what she was doing, but then she pulled the trigger twice, the shots ringing out loud and clear before deafening silence before they could stop her. Two thuds were then heard; Ella stomped her feet twice, once harder and once softer before she told the cops to put the bodies on the stretchers. She gestured for the BAU to follow her out and while the two in the house looked bewildered but remained quiet as Ella put a finger to her lips. The team were assaulting her with questions as she left at a brisk pace, though in the wrong context they were quite incriminating.

"There were microphones in the house, Lindsey was listening while we were in there." Ella told them once they were a fair distance away. "It's better to make the criminals think you're even crazier than they are, since it makes you an unknown - and more often than not, that terrifies them." Her eyes gained a far away look, like she wasn't truly there anymore - but she snapped out of it quickly and shook her head. "Anyway, I need to go prepare some things, we'll talk again once I have more to go on." Ella told them before leaving quickly.

"Is it just me, or does it seem like she's used to this?" Alvez was the first to speak, looking at the others in the team. JJ and Tara nodded in agreement, and Emily seemed to think for a bit before telling them all to get in the car.

Line Break

The team was once more gathered in the conference room, though there were a few people missing - JJ and Reid. The first thing they discussed was Cat Adams, her demands, and her past with Reid but that quickly led to Prentiss giving a lecture on exactly who 'the Duchess,' was. "Elanor Muirigan Potter-Black." Prentiss showed a picture of her from what appeared to be a cover of a magazine. "Born on July 31, 1981 she's a powerful figure internationally. She's a human rights activist not only in Britain, but around the world. She goes to UN meetings regularly and is always pushing some reform or another, and has been known to take cases of reformed convicts. Every one of the cases she's taken, none of them have turned back from their old lives and now hold decent jobs thanks to her." Emily summarized.

The projector changes slides and showed a picture of an obviously malnourished little girl, bruises and cuts visible on her face and arms. She was wearing a ratty old t-shirt that looked like it used to be white and made for a football player and baggy shorts that looked like they were about to slip off of her if not for the rope holding them up. "She grew up in Surrey, England with her maternal aunt, uncle and cousin."

Another picture, this time of a horse like woman and a whale like man, standing proudly beside a smaller blond whale like man and the little girl was there standing a few feet aware looking at the ground with her hands folded in front of her. "When she turned 11, she was invited to her parents' private school for the gifted, her father having already paid for her to attend before they officially died in a gas explosion at their house. Unofficially, a terrorist was targeting the Potters at the time when it occurred, and law enforcement was able to conclude that the father was killed by Tom Marvolo Riddle in attempt to allow for the mother and Ella to escape, but she'd only had time to hide her daughter before Riddle got to her. She set off his bomb prematurely and killed herself and severely injured Riddle, who managed to get away. Ella managed to survive, having been put in the family's safe room, though she did get a scar on her right arm from some falling debris." Emily explained what the muggles has recorded in the files, even though they were a part of the FBI they weren't high enough on the food chain to know the truth yet.

"So when did she meet Spencer then?" Tara asked, she was wondering about the woman's mental state from what she'd been through - even indirectly, she'd witnessed both of her parents die at a terribly young age, which was known to affect the child later in life. Not to mention she was obviously abused, if her clothes didn't say anything, her size growing up was more than enough to tell she wasn't being properly fed. Using her cousin as a gauge, Tara could tell the family had enough to feed her, they'd chosen not to - and made it worse, if possible.

"That I don't know." Emily admitted. "Many of her files growing up were sealed by the Queen, though after taking her titles she joined the MI7 for five years before taking over her father's and godfather's companies and taking part in humanitarian endeavors."

"So where is Cat now?" Walker asked, looking at the team members who'd been there when Cat Adams had been taken in. They were getting off topic, they could gossip about the Duchess later, they still had a woman to save. The convict's case seemed a bit strange to him though, who'd wait to delay their revenge so long, and why now?

"Mount Pleasant Women's Correctional Facility." Prentiss told them, standing straight and professional despite it all. She knew it would probably bite her, that the team would probably be upset by her decision but they couldn't risk Cat killing Spencer's mother. "Spencer's heading over right now."

"Wait, hold up. Reid has to go back to prison?" Walker asked, aghast at the thought - Spencer had just gotten out of prison, and now he had to go back in?

"He just landed." Prentiss told him simply, maintaining her professionalism in the face of the others, inwardly cringing at how cold she sounded as she spoke.

"Do you really think he can handle it, I mean all that Reid's been through," Penelope said concerned, the thought of sending Spencer back so soon after finally getting him out sent shivers down her spine. "Do you think he has the brain capacity to do this right now?"

"She's right," Tara put her two cents in. "He's walking into one of the most unstable situations anyone could face, she's been in solitary confinement six months?" Tara looked around at everyone, making sure they were on the same page as her. "We all know what that can do to an inmate, at best they suffer from delusions, at worst? They're psychotic."

"I took all that into account." Prentiss said professionally, trying to distance herself from the situation, but the way she was clenching both her hands in front of her showed how upset she was with the situation. "That's why I didn't send Reid in there alone." Before she could explain further, she received a text from JJ, making her sigh and shake her head, a grim smile making its debut on her face. "But apparently the interview room is already in use." The team exchanged confused glances at the sudden change in Emily, and waited for her to elaborate. "The Duchess has taken over the interview with Cat."


	3. The First Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm a bit late, I had exams this week and I've been pretty busy. Anyway, enjoy chapter 3!

“So, you’re the one who set up my Sweetie?” Ella entered the interrogation room before Spencer even arrived at the prison, though she waited until he got to the other side of the glass to start. She locked the door and brought the key with her, so JJ and Spencer wouldn’t be getting in there without her say so. The witch had decided to wear a light pink dress shirt and black slacks for this, an outfit she’d seen Spencer wear a few times, her hair in a french braid with wisps of hair around her face. “You’re the one that took his mother?” Ella knew that Spencer and JJ were listening, but to be honest she didn’t care much. If anything that happened here got leaked, her people already knew how to take care of it. She purposely angled her body so she could get away at a moments notice if she needed to- she could force the information from the muggle woman’s mind if she needed to, or give her some veritaserum. It would be looked down upon by the upper echelons, but she never has cared much about the before and needs justify after all. 

“That’s what you call him?” Cat sneered despite herself. “Seems to fit, after all he’s a no good dirty liar. Why would his girlfriend be any different.” She lunged outwards as she said ‘girlfriend,’ though Ella didn’t even flinch, in fact her smile seemed to grow slightly as she looked at this woman. 

“You might as well let me do your interview, it’ll be more fun anyway.” Ella smirked at Cat, a look that Severus had said made her look like a privileged brat. “I mean, he always said his job was so hard,” the air quotes around the words were obvious, and she rolled her eyes to stay in character. “So I decided that I’m going to take this one - it can’t be too hard, I mean people do it on the telly all the time.” The witch said playfully, hoping the suggestion that she was an easy target to turn against Spencer would entice Cat into allowing her to play the game. Cat seemed to think about it before she smiled as well, falling under the power of Ella’s suggestion. “Where’s Diana? Where’s Spencer’s mom?”

“No, stop.” Cat held a finger up to Ella to shush her, stopping her like the Duchess was a disobedient child. “You don’t get to come in here and hiss at me like I’m the criminal - no, we do this my way.” They had a bit of a staring contest, testing each other’s will, but Cat looked away first. She violently kicked out the chair on the other side of the table, “Have a seat.” Ella sat down elegantly, ever the aristocrat, folding her hands in her lap as she showed no fear of the woman in front of her.

“How was the prison, did you like it?” Cat asked, she threw her hair around to expose her neck, a movement obviously meant to taunt Spencer, showing that she wasn’t scared despite the fact that he could kill her before the guards got there if he’d just come into the room. Ella wasn’t impressed, she’d seen better from Wormtail, and he was a bloody coward for all he’d done in service to the Dork Lord.

“I liked it a lot, thank you.” Ella answered in a bubbly tone, throwing Cat off with her answer. “The inmates were quite interesting to speak to, and I made a great many new acquaintances - the guards are really talkative, and they know their prisoners quite well.” Ella smiled at the insane woman, playing up her happy and friendly personality to draw Cat further into her web.

“But they weren’t good enough for the Duchess, were they,” Cat seemed to be getting closer to Ella, probably to either make her come closer or to subtly threaten her. It didn’t work. “Spencer must have gone crazy, his books would only take up three, maybe four hours of the day. There’s still another twenty, I wonder how he kept up.” Cat’s mocking tone made Ella’s skin crawl, especially the way she seemed to enjoy the thought of it. She crossed her arms over the table and leaned on them. “A brain like your ‘Sweetie’s’ needs stimulation in such a… grey place.” She drawled, looking around the interview room purposefully. 

“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure he has something to do when he needs to get away.” Ella told her, uncertainty dancing in her eyes, as if she were afraid of what Cat would think of her for that. In reality, the witch was portraying an overconfident rich brat being pushed off the deep end. 

Cat didn’t seem to fully listen to Ella’s answer though she did get a glimmer of satisfaction from Ella’s response. She found it interesting that somehow this woman shaping her fantasy around the changes that she was making, though Ella could imagine why she was doing so - not only was it her suggestion, but she couldn’t tell her partner of the changes without the other member of their group, and no one was allowed in the room with Cat other than Ella, Spencer or JJ. 

“That isn’t enough, you need to go someplace.” She started tapping her head as she stared at the one way mirror behind them. “Up here.” She rolled her eyes before staring back at Ella. “Or else you go… crazy.” She spoke airily, smiling and laughing slightly. “Do you wanna see where I go? I can show you.” She told Ella playfully, and Ella decided she wanted to see it- if nothing else than to have a foot in the door to her mind. Cat, no matter how good she was, was nowhere near the level of Bellatrix. But to be honest, it was hard to be worse - the Black Madness sort of trumped all other kinds of psychosis that Ella had seen. 

“Close your eyes.” Cat ordered, laying her fingers on Ella’s eyelids to force them closed. “Good, now keep them shut. Sit back and relax.” Cat continued, leaning back in her own chair as well, Ella humoring her and following orders. “Now when you open your eyes, I want you to look at me like the first woman you’ve seen after being prison for three months.” Ella decided to humor her, and obeyed that command as well, though instead of prison she remembered 4 Privet Drive. “Now open.” Ella heard her command, and she did as ordered. 

They were in Cat’s mindscape, a light cream colored room with lots of light; it had a luxurious air to it, with large windows and a single table, where the two were now sitting. There was a golden love seat in the back, framed by two white trees, golden light fixtures tastefully lighting up the room. There was a small table where a white flower arrangement stood with two more light fixtures. Ella smiled and simply said, “Hello Cat.” Her British accent was faint, it was nearly unheard where they were at the moment. 

Cat spread her arms in joy and smiled a bright smile. “You’re here!” She announced, acting like they were friends despite they’d just met. “You’re really here.” Cat’s hair was a nicely done, still down but combed and given a windblown look to it. She wore a solid black dress and a pair of large diamond earrings, and she looked… polished, rather than pretty. Ella couldn’t see beauty in people like Cat Adams. 

“There is nowhere else I’d rather be.” Ella was still smirking slightly as she answered pleasantly, looking at Cat from her side of the table. She had her hands folded on the table, leaning towards Cat and staring into her eyes and showing as much earnestness as she could muster at the moment.

Cat shook her head lightly and crossed her arms under her chest. She smiled at Ella and in a slightly teasing voice told her, “You’re good at this.” Her smile slowly dropped from her face. “You’re really good at this. I almost believe that you don’t want to kill me.” She said, a taunting grin on her face. 

Ella smiled a bright smile of her own, answering with complete honesty. “I don’t want to kill you.” Both women leaned forward slightly, “No?” Cat asked. Ella wasn’t going to just take it though, she’d landed on her feet, it was time to run with the personality she’d taken for this particular criminal. “No.” Ella answered simply, leaning back into her chair. 

“What if I let his mother die?” Cat asked violently, accepting that it wasn’t Reid that was playing out her scene with her. “Then would you kill me?” She asked in all seriousness. There was no more playfulness in her voice, nor did she seem to be willing to take bullshit. She leaned forward and stared into Ella’s eyes like a predator. “Or would you just… hurt me.” Ella watched her eyes, and saw the flash of arousal that went through Cat’s eyes as she said that. Inwardly, Ella shivered, getting the feeling that this woman was more similar to Bellatrix than she’d initially thought. “Would you pin me down and give me bruises that won’t go away?” She asked, and Ella barely stopped herself from flinching at the thought of it - Bellatrix had said something similar when Ella had had to interrogate her after the Final Battle. 

“Is that what you want?” Ella asked her innocently with a tinge of confusion - as if she couldn’t understand why someone would want to hurt another. Ella noted that Cat was leaning even closer to her now, searching her face for something. 

The hitwoman wanted to take this girl, no this woman, and show her how to find pleasure in pain, how to see beauty in blood, to corrupt this seemingly perfect individual. Her hair was the same shade as blood, Cat wondered how it would look on her pillow. She pretended to think a bit before she answered, doing a little shoulder dance as she did. “I guess I just want to know if you would… if you could,” Cat answered eventually, looking Ella in the eyes once more. 

Ella decided to answer truthfully - after all, doing anything like that made her feel… dirty, like she sunk to Voldemort’s level. “No,” Ella answered in her normal voice once more, and a flash of disappointment flashed through Cat’s eyes before she repeated her answer as a question. Her reply was simply, “I’m not that kind of girl, I don’t think I could do that to a person..” 

Cat came to a solid decision when she saw that Ella wasn’t going to run away and get Reid like a good girl. “You know what, you want to be his substitute, you’re going to play my game instead of him.” She said happily, shattering her reality for a second so that she could stare into the one way glass again. “And this time, we’ll find out if you know just what kind of man Dr. Reid is.” She spoke his title mockingly, maybe trying to make a dig at his mother as well since she was also ‘Dr. Reid,’ looking at where she assumed Spencer was standing. To be honest, he was still trying to open the door; he didn’t want Ella to be facing his demons - she didn’t deserve to be thrown into this world again. 

JJ was watching the interview and listening for anything important, frequently sending Prentiss updates as the Duchess spoke to Cat. When Cat had ‘brought,’ them where she ‘went,’ while she was alone, they still spoke aloud, but there seemed to be things that only the two of them saw, however everything said could still be used in court if need be. The blonde woman thought about the Duchess and what she knew about her- so far, she seemed very pleasant, even though she was supposed to be interrogating Cat, and had even convinced the psychotic woman to allow her to do the interview instead of Reid. She and Reid would be able to profile Cat from behind the glass, but they wouldn’t be able to control what was being said, nor could they ask any questions themselves as Ella had locked them out.

“Let’s play.” Ella said, challenge lacing her cheerful voice, leaning forward in anticipation - she’d always liked games, she was quite good at them after all the mind games Voldemort and Dumbledore had put her through, intentionally or not. 

“Let’s.” Cat answered happily, like there were going to play a game at a sleepover, and they stared each other down in a silent battle for dominance. “Are you hungry?” She asked in boredom, her head laying on her hand and breaking the tension that built in the room. 

“Not really, what kind of game will we be playing?” Ella asked lightly, looking back at the glass for a second, then placing a locking charm on the door to prevent Spencer from getting in for sure. 

“You’re going to be asking me questions, since I got to ask your boyfriend questions last time.” Cat told her, nodding towards the glass, and Ella continued to leave her in the dark - she was just proving that her intel wasn’t as conclusive as it could have been, something she was sure Reid would understand. The two were back in Cat’s mindscape, sitting at the table and conversing politely with each other. “This time, I know a secret about lover boy over there, and you’re going to try to get it out of me before the timer runs out.” Cat’s sickly sweet smile left a disgusting feeling in Ella’s stomach, but she continued to play along, knowing this was life or death to the woman who meant everything to Spencer. 

“I know a secret about the young doctor.” Cat repeated, unsatisfied by the lack of reaction Ella gave the first time. “You have as many questions you like to figure it out. But you only have one guess as to what it is.” Cat leaned forward, completely serious. “Guess correctly, I take your phone and call my friend Lindsey, and I tell her to release Mama Reid unharmed. If you don’t,” Cat mimed putting a gun in her mouth and blowing her brains out. 

“Is there a time limit?” Ella asked serenely, her voice pleasant though her face was wiped clean of any emotion. If it came down to it, she’d be using her magic to mimic Cat’s voice, though even that wasn’t a solid move - she wouldn’t have time to copy her speech patterns and get Lindsey’s phone number from her mind in time. Just in case, Ella left a surprise in Cat’s mindscape for later - no one harmed a Black and got away with it, and Ella recognized Reid as part of her small group of loved ones now.

“There’s always a time limit.” Cat answered coyly, playing with her hair. She held out her hand. “Give it to me.” She told Ella, who took off her watch and handed it to the woman. “You’ll have four hours to try, it would have been easier if Spency did this himself, but…” Cat shrugged carelessly. “Oh well, if you fail it’ll be on your head.” 

Ella smiled in self hatred, her spoiled persona slipping for a second. “That’s the point.”


	4. The Interrogation

“Go.” Cat commanded with a confident grin on her face, staring at Ella’s watch. It wasn’t a very fancy one, a delicate silver analog watch with none of the newfangled bits and bobs attached to it. 

Ella asked some basic questions about Cat herself to understand who she was before she started asking the in depth questions. She asked them conversationally, asked them all in a way that made her seem completely inept for this kind of thing. Favourite colour, favourite food, what kind of music did she like, things completely unrelated to the case. After half an hour, Ella thought she had enough to go on and started a different line of questioning. 

“I’ll just be thinking aloud, please don’t listen, it’ll ruin the game.” Ella told Cat lightly, knowing that her curiosity would make her listen even more carefully to what Ella said to gauge how well Ella was doing. That would make her reactions a bit more honest since she’d think that Ella wasn’t actually paying attention to her and she herself would be busy straining to hear Ella, especially if she kept it fast and quiet- the witch had done this before, and it had worked every time so far.

“Since Spicy arrested Cat, she watched and waited for the perfect time to take revenge.” Ella mumbled, her arms crossed over her chest, her eyes barely open. She saw Cat glance at her chest for a second, which had been pushed up when she crossed her arms. Inwardly, Ella noted that Cat seemed to swing both ways and took this into account while she thought about what she’d say next. 

“When she learned he was going to Mexico, she decided to - what?” Ella got up from her seat and started pacing, one arm around her waist, and the other holding a finger up to her lips as she thought aloud. “Decided to call her friend Lindsey-” Cat snapped out of her sort of trance at the name, something Ella thought strange - why would that snap her out of her perusal of the red head’s body? She soldiered on in her story though, playing oblivious to the fact that Cat was discreetly hanging onto every word she was saying. “To frame him for murder, put in prison and treated like a criminal.” Ella started gesticulating, her hands separating everything she said into boxes only she could see. 

“Then they kidnapped Spencer’s mom to show him how it feels to have a parent manipulated?” she asked herself, pushing her hair back and exposing the creamy flesh of her neck to Cat, eliciting a small groan from the other woman. The showing of one’s neck was often used as a sign of submission, and has been very effective in convincing dominant people that you were a submissive person in general, therefore leaving the dominant with a greater sense of power in the situation.

“I mean, I understand that it’s a crappy feeling,” Ella continued as if she hadn’t heard, though Spencer and JJ most definitely did and openly gaped at them. The Duchess was seducing a woman! Maybe even unconsciously, since the Duchess was known for being quite innocent when it came to relationships. “But what does it do for her? Prove the two of them are similar?” Ella acted abashed as if she just remembered that Cat was there, a pretty blush covering her cheeks before she sat down again. “I’m sorry, I ramble sometimes.” She told Cat, not looking her in the eyes. 

Cat yawned dramatically before staring at Ella. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hold that any longer. What were you saying?” She asked, and the noble woman smiled brightly, as if she thought that Cat was telling the truth and hadn’t been listening to her. “Let’s speed this up, shall we.” Cat said, getting up from the table and sitting herself across Ella’s lap, making her blush further - something Cat secretly delighted in, and thought that she might be able to turn the seemingly innocent woman she was sitting on. 

Ella was blushing up a storm now, and it wasn’t that hard - no one had gotten this close to her before, and she actually didn’t know what to do, so she ignored it for now. This became extremely difficult as Cat wrapped an arm over Ella’s shoulder and braced herself on the back of her chair. 

“Why don’t you think about all the pain Spencer's told you about,” Cat crossed her legs, putting more of her weight on the aristocrat’s lap. She bounced slightly as she spoke. “What would I capitalize on, you think?” She asked, glancing at Ella’s lips a few times. “The death of his mentor? SSA Jason Gideon?” Cat played with the witch’s lips and jaw, moving the skin around to see how much slack it had.

Ella took a deep breath to steady herself before she spoke. “No, they already caught the one who did it, you wouldn’t use something he already got over.” She really wished Spencer was there to hold her hand or give her reassurance that she was right about this - they really hadn’t been talking much, and she didn't know much about Agent Gideon other than that they caught his killer. 

“What about Agent Morgan?” She asked, her hand lowering so now it was rubbing against her chest, fondling the buttons a bit and undoing the first few. Cat played with Ella’s necklace - a black stone pendant wrapped in a golden casing sitting in the hollow of her throat held by a golden chain. “And his guilt for not visiting his little boy.” Cat started licking along Ella’s neck now, pulling the makeup off of the bruises she’d gotten recently - she’d been visiting Russia and some of the politicians had thought she was being impudent in their chambers. He decided that strangling her as she got out of the chamber was a good idea, and had nearly knocked her unconscious by the time they’d gotten him off of her. 

“He- he was in prison.” Ella stuttered slightly, her voice breathless - she was playing a character, she couldn’t shove Cat off her yet, she needed more information. 

“But he had time before that,” Cat whispered breathily into Ella’s ear, giving what she thought to be a charming smile to the glass. “Why didn’t he go?” Cat wrapped both arms around Ella’s neck now, and it was taking every ounce of will power the witch had not to throw the other woman off of her and straight up threaten her to tell her where Diana was. 

“H-his mother, she’s s-sick,” Ella stuttered out, her blush still covering her face though now it was in rage rather than really being flustered. The woman on her lap was beginning to annoy her but she really needed to stay in this character to get what she wanted - to prove that Cat wasn’t a trustworthy partner, therefore encouraging Lindsey to drop her faster than a dog drops a crab. “He - he was taking care of her, she needed him. He didn’t have time, and neither did Morgan, what with Savannah and little baby Bobby.” Ella thought about in Hogwarts, when she’d found out that Blaise had been cheating on her and she hadn’t wanted to believe it. She channeled that doubt and fear now, and wore the same face she wore then - the pleading expression for the story to be true. 

“Are you sure?” Cat asked, sensing a weakness. “Maybe he found someone else.” Ella flinched visibly, that struck a chord with not only her character, but her as well. “I mean, why would he leave you alone so often? He let you come in here alone, he must not really care that much about you. After all,” Cat daintily wrapped her hands around Ella’s throat. “I could kill you if I wanted to.” She told her, staring into Ella’s eyes, savoring the pain and suffering she could see swimming in the pretty jade eyes. “But I won’t. Because that’s still not the secret.” Cat whispered into Ella’s ear.

Cat got off, returning to her seat and Ella turned to the mirror - a movement everyone saw, but only Spencer really understood how the aristocrat worked, and while some of the emotions she saw might have been true, she’d gotten the information she wanted as well from that interaction.

Line Break

“Why are you letting her do the interview, Spencer?” JJ asked him seriously, he’d finally stopped trying to pry the door open and was watching the Duchess work. The blonde woman wasn’t impressed with the girl, this was a serious investigation and she was being manipulated so easily, if Cat somehow managed to turn the Duchess against them they could lose everything. “She’s not qualified to do this, she’s getting hardly any information and she doesn’t even have all her facts straight.”

“That’s the point, she knows Derek’s son’s name.” Spencer told her staring at Ella’s back, the way her muscles flexed and twitched while she was in there. “She appears unqualified, and so Cat isn’t as careful as she would be around you or me.” He told her slowly. “So far she’d concluded that Cat’s got someone on the inside, someone that could feed her all this information on me. That info isn’t all encompassing though, since she didn’t know the name of Derek’s son, something Ella knows - she’s sent a few gifts to them for me and wrote the cards herself.” Spencer continued to stare into Ella’s back, willing her to open the door so he could speak to Cat himself. 

“Ella’s also figured out that Cat’s attracted to both males and females from her reactions to her, in fact Cat’s even trying to seduce her to her side since she thinks we’re in a relationship.” JJ made a questioning noise in the back of her throat, and Spencer finally looked at her. 

“Thinks?” She asked, staring at Reid - it was almost unnatural, how calm he looked at the moment despite everything. “I was under the impression you two were in a relationship at the moment and that’s why you never let yourself get set up despite all our attempts.” 

“No, we’re not dating.” Spencer said with an air of remorse around him, though JJ didn’t have time to question it since Ella had continued the interrogation while the two had been speaking. Spencer continued to bore holes into Ella’s back with his gaze, hoping that she could feel it in the room so that she knew she wasn’t alone. JJ called Rossi to tell him the new intel while Reid listened.

Line Break

Cat was playing with Ella’s watch while the witch pretended to get her bearings once more, taking a fortifying breath. “So it wouldn’t be one of the topics you already mentioned,” Ella said softly, closing her eyes and taking deep calming breaths. “That wouldn’t be fun, and it would ruin the game.” 

“You’re smart, I see how you keep up with Genius over there.” Cat replied, smirking as she rolled the watch between her hands. 

“So something he’d rather not admit, something that has yet been touched upon…” Ella started tapping her finger against her lips again, a distant look entering her eyes. Her eyes lit up, though inside she got an ominous feeling - something wasn’t right here. “Love.” Cat stopped playing with the watch and looked into Ella’s eyes, giving her all of her attention. “That must be what this is about, of course I love Spencer, and he loves his mother but…” Ella leaned forward and studied Cat’s face. “He - he loves you, doesn’t he.” The self hatred was back, as well as the pain and fear, screaming out from her eyes. Ella sent a light bludgeoning hex against herself to force herself to tear up, adding to the effect of her words, and Cat visibly brightened considerably. “He loves you?” 

“Sorry to break it to you honey, I make like my fairy tales, clearly, but I’m not delusional.” Cat told her, leaning back into her chair once more. “Tell you what, I had Lindsey leave a hint in Spencie’s apartment. Why don’t you go ask him what it was?” she challenged, crossing her arms across her chest. Ella watched her a bit before nodding her head and walking to the door, unlocking it and getting a face full of dress shirt. 

“Hello to you to, Spicy.” Ella smiled into Spencer’s chest, she only came up to the man’s shoulders, even in heels. “What did she leave in your apartment?” Ella asked, and suddenly Spencer blanched and ran into the room. 

“You made it!” Cat announced happily, and Ella was right behind him now. “I wanted to be the one to tell you, and I had to wait until I was positive. That is,” Cat looked down at her abdomen and the sense of foreboding grew in Ella. Cat smirked at her as she placed her hands over her stomach, “Until I tested positive.”

“What, you’re pregnant?” Spencer asked calmly, a puzzled expression on his face. 

Cat leaned forward with a grin, like the cat that got the canary, leaning her weight onto the table. “We’re pregnant.” She told him helplessly, and Spencer started shaking his head in denial. Ella refused to break character and tears started streaming down her face, anguish apparent on her face as she tried to make Spencer look at her. The young doctor made a quiet denial, shaking his head and pushing Ella away from him. “Oh yes, mazel tov.” She smiled and enjoyed the pain she was causing. 

“That’s not possible,” Spencer said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Even if you are pregnant, the baby isn’t mine.” 

“Except for the part that it is.” Cat spoke as if it were obvious, which it most definitely was not. Ella was still puzzling about this, what was the point of it other than manipulation? Labor was extremely painful, and in prison like this it was almost certain that it’d be harder than a usual one.

“That’s completely preposterous, you’ve been in prison.” Spencer was still denying it, he was too busy trying to make himself believe it to be a lie to think it through and prove to himself it was a lie, too busy to think about why this didn’t make sense. 

“So have you.” Cat pointed out, and hinted that they were never like that in the first place, allowing Ella to release a breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding

“And we’ve never-” the doctor started, trying to force out some form of reason, though it didn’t work so well - he was still too emotionally entangled to see the big picture at the moment. Ella didn’t - yes, she loved Spencer, but she could look at this from an outsider’s point of view, could detach herself from the situation and become emotionless. She’d had to do it throughout the trials after the war, when the world had been sniffing for her blood, claiming she’d be the next Dark Lady, and she’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant protecting one of hers. 

“I know, we never.” she shrugged a bit, hinting at what they both knew. She leaned forward. “Ask me how I did it.” Now, Ella stood back in a corner, muffling sobs - not because of the fact that Cat was pregnant, no because of what this meant they did to Spencer while he’d been under their ‘tender mercy. “C’mon, ask me. I’m sure your girlfriend over there would want to know as well.” 

Spencer rolled his eyes before playing along. “How did you do it?” 

“I had Lindsey dose you in Mexico.” Spencer nodded slowly, though his face showed he barely believed her. “You lost time, and I gave Lindsey very specific instructions to get you in the mood.” Cat was staring at Ella now, anticipating the pain she’d be forcing on her and simply relishing in it.

“What, did she pretend to be you?” Ella laughed internally - that would be funny, how would Lindsey know enough about Cat if they were just working together- a thought struck her. Cat had said they were friends, but hitmen and women didn’t have ‘friends,’ they had allies and they had pawns. So why did Cat use the term ‘friend,’ for Lindsey? 

“Why, would that have worked?” Cat tilted her head mockingly, as if she actually cared about the answer. Ella was still puzzling this - she’d already concluded that Cat was at the very least bisexual, and from Lindsey’s experience she’d have all the reasons to become a lesbian. 

“No.” Spencer said simply. The redhead’s thoughts were running around in her mind, thinking about all the mistakes in Cat’s story - something that meant either she didn’t do her homework properly, or Lindsey had somehow gotten over all of her past traumas despite all the evidence otherwise. 

“Yeah, no, I know.” The brunette said, rolling her eyes at him. She was looking bored again, but there was a glimmer of delight in her eyes as she spoke, probably satisfied that now she had a larger audience. Which meant she had a larger pool to hurt, and was more likely to get the response she wanted somewhere. “I didn’t know about Ms. Princess over here-” 

“Actually, I’m a Duchess,” Ella interrupted, sounding outraged. She was still thinking though - if this was true, this would explain a lot and Cat had already ousted the fact that she was attracted to her, at least physically.

“But I think she’ll be interested in how we got it. Believe me, I know exactly where I stand on the ‘Spencer Reid hot or not list’.” She paused and studied Spencer’s eyes, watched the light flicker in them as he stared at her. “I told her to be Maeve. Maeve Donovan, the love of your life.” A crack was heard, and they both looked at Ella, who’d broken the pen she’d been holding, it was crushed in her grip and the ink was covering her hand. Twin streams were falling from her eyes and she calmly got up and walked out of the room. Spencer visibly swallowed as he looked back at Cat, who spoke as if nothing had happened. “Who had her brains blown out in front of you before you could even kiss. So dark, yet so useful.”

“You’re lying.” 

“Spencer, it’s Maeve.” Cat spoke in a breathy voice, using a slightly higher pitch than her regular voice. “Spencer, it’s okay. Spencer, Spencer.” The doctor had a flashback and remembered Lindsey doing exactly as Cat was, “It’s okay, I’m here. Shh… You want this, it’s okay.” 

“It didn’t happen.” He denied again, more violently this time. He was starting to get to the end of his rope, his patience had already been shot from his time in prison, and now this. He was only glad that Ella had taken the brunt of it for him, as regretful as he was for dragging her into this. 

“I was thinking, if it’s a boy we should definitely call him Spencie Junior, but if it’s a girl I think we should call her Maeve! I mean, after all she played such a big part in her own conception!” Cat was yelling as Spencer practically ran out, and Ella had just returned from washing the ink off her hands and reapplying the makeup covering her bruises. 

JJ showed Spencer the files the guards had given her and explained the logic behind it - the timelines matched, but before JJ could say anything else Spencer flew into a rage. Ella sullenly reentered the interrogation room. “So was that the secret?” She asked tearfully, her eyes slightly red, though that was the only sign she’d been crying - she was one of the lucky ones, she even cried prettily. It made Cat want to soil her, make her ugly like the rest of the world was. “Will - will you let Diana go now?” She asked hopefully, trying to make herself as weak and raw as possible, it was important for her to see the next move now that she’d exposed this layer to her madness. She hadn’t actually been that upset at the thought of him cheating - they weren’t in a relationship, hadn’t been for years.

“Is that your guess?” Cat asked boredly, laying her head on the table, looking up at where Ella was standing a fair distance away from her. 

“I guess not then, that’d be too easy.” Ella was even more sullen now, her eyes shadowed a bit as she tilted her head downwards. She was trying the emotional baggage route now, to shake her up and hopefully force her to make a mistake. Also, she really wanted to scream - Maeve Donovan was not a good topic for her, she’d… she was a wonderful woman and the way she died was painful, but what had happened before her death - that was extremely painful for the aristocrat. 

“Believe me, getting pregnant with his baby wasn’t easy.” Cat threw out, looking at the watch again, not even looking at Ella as she spoke. That grated on Ella, she’d been trying so hard to be pleasant, to be nice even though she had every right to just rip everything from her mind - but she didn’t, there were muggles watching her and she didn’t want to break the Statute.

“Diana’s already dead, isn’t she.” Ella whispered, her voice so raw and blunt that it threw Cat for a loop. When Cat didn’t respond, the red head shrieked, her hair streaming around her, some of it escaping the confines of her braid, making her look bigger. “You already killed her, didn’t you?” She accused, her finger in Cat’s face as she yelled, her temper loud and her eyes balls of greek fire. 

“She’s not dead.” Cat denied, shaking her head as she stared into Ella’s eyes, slightly fearful of the insane edge they’d gained - she hadn’t expected the woman born with a silver spoon in her mouth to have it in her. 

The witch was on a roll, expressing the rage she’d wanted to the entire time she’d been there. “You probably killed the only woman outside of my family willing to talk to me before I even got to this room, this prison!” She was forcing herself not to start attacking the other woman, tears streaming hot lines down her face once more as she accused Cat.

“No, because that would be cheating and I don’t cheat. He does.” The brunette pointed at the mirror, behind which Spencer was standing, nearly pressed against the glass. He’d also started thinking that, after all it was totally believable that Cat would do that - she’d want to hurt him as much as possible before nailing the killing blow. 

“I’m leaving, this was a waste of my time.” Ella got up violently, pushing against the table and making quick strides, opening the door just before Cat spoke again. 

“I’ll let you talk to her!” Cat yelled, and both Spencer and Ella walked back in, though now she was meek once more, looking at the ground and standing in the corner as Spencer sat down in front of Cat. 

JJ called Garcia to warn her about what was going to happen and told her to start a trace from Spencer’s phone. 

The call connected and Ella started pulling the information from Cat’s mind using the spy she’d sent in earlier - a morgil, a creature Luna had introduced her to. It feasted on the subconscious fears and lived in the mind, she’d been feeding it in her own for years, and she’d taught it a few tricks - like fetching her information while it fed. It gave her an address and she waited until Spencer was ready to leave before she did. There was an explosion on the other end of the call and Spencer was suddenly in a fury, and JJ had come in to try to pull him away. Ella went up to her and whispered an address in her ear, hoping she’d understand - JJ nodded to show she’d heard, though she didn’t understand why Ella’d told her and not Spencer, never mind that he was in a fury at the moment. 

“TELL ME THE TRUTH.” Spencer demanded, banging his hands against the table, his face an angry flush from the exertion he was putting his body through despite still being in recovery. 

“I am! You wanna know the truth? Your mother is an Alzheimer’s ridden moron who’s getting dumber and dumber day by day and if she’s dead it’s your fault!” She yelled, and before they could do anything Spencer shoved the table away and grabbed Cat by the throat, pushing her into the wall as he strangled her. JJ tried to pull him off the criminal, but it was difficult. He’d gotten stronger in prison, that was for sure. Ella was helping halfheartedly, to be honest she kind of wanted to kill the woman herself. Cat was smiling though, so Ella decided living would be better - also, the child was innocent despite the their parent(s?) deeds.

Ella let JJ follow Reid out before her eyes latched onto the criminal in front of her. Ella slowly stalked up to her like an enraged predator - something ancient and foreboding, and it made goosebumps raise on Cat’s face when she faced her. She finally dropped that stupid character she’d been playing, they had all they needed now and she could stop with this idiotic game of Cat’s, and she had some steam she really wanted to let off.

They were toe to toe when Ella finally deemed herself ready to speak. “I could make your life so much worse.” she growled, her voice was unrecognisable now. It was dark and dangerous, it made Cat want to run away as she subconsciously recognised Ella as higher on the food chain. Ella’s body started ripple with her magic, though only Cat was close enough to see it, and the camera’s wouldn’t pick it up. “If I find out that you even hurt Diana, I will make sure you survive.” She hissed. Cat laughed lowly, how could surviving be a punishment? She asked Ella that and the witch just smiled. Her eyes glowed killing curse green as she stared the other woman down. “In death, one can finally be at peace, for no other soothes like his dark embrace. In Death’s arms, may you finally rest eternal. In life you must suffer and endure, take all given to you without question or complaint for no one teaches cruelty better than life.” the witch hissed. 

Line break

Spencer was in the other room again, sitting down as JJ tried to make him see reason, and by the time they returned Ella was sitting pleasantly in her chair, a mocking smile on her face as she continued the interrogation her legs crossed and her hands in her lap. This time, she was a different character - she was the strong and confident politician, prepared and professional with a cutthroat attitude, willing to step on anything and anyone to get what she wants. 

Line break

JJ called Emily to tell her their suspicions and warned her that whatever they saw next could be disturbing. Spencer had warned her that Ella could get pretty out there when she was finishing up an interrogation, going so far as pretending to be as insane as the suspect. That was a bit of an understatement, JJ found as she had a front row seat to see how the Duchess played her end game. “Also,” JJ said as a last minute thought, looking at Ella through the glass. “Look into 804 Dillard Street, Port Royal.”

Line break 

“You lied about Spencer being the father.” Ella said with a small smile as she got the memories her morgil had fetched from Cat’s mind while she’d been arguing with Reid, too distracted to notice her pulling the information. It was hard to find them once they went in, and once you had one you were more susceptible to others once it came out - she’d be dealing with severe paranoia for the rest of her life. 

“No I didn’t, this is his child.” She said, though her mouth twitched downwards slightly, wondering how Ella had come to that conclusion. She was certain that she’d played her in every way, even the genius himself had fallen for her performance, how could a snobby amateur like this woman fare any better than all those before her? She refused to believe that she was on the same level as Reid - the same level as Cat herself.

“No, you’re lying.” Ella smile grew a little bit. “How would you get his sperm into your prison cell? Even if you had a guard helping you, that kind of package has to be screened a few times, and there would have been forms that had to be filled out to show that consent was given.” Ella strode towards Cat. Ella looked at the camera for a minute, probably thinking about how she worded what she said next and weighing how it would affect her reputation. She came to a decision apparently because she looked back at Cat in a minute to continue where she left off. “Not only that, Lindsey would never touch a man in a sexual manner, not after being repeatedly raped and watching her friend die because she trusted a man.” Cat blanched, obviously she hadn’t heard that story yet. “No, you slept with someone in your cell, probably one who was able to give you the dirt on Spencer while he was in prison, since you seem to know quite a bit about his time there.” Another twitch at the mention of a guard, another sign Ella was heading in the right direction. She walked right up to Cat and straddled her, wrapping her arms around Cat’s neck, and the brunette wrapped her hands around the redhead’s waist. 

A dangerous look entered Ella’s eyes as she pushed on, she was on a roll now. “Even if that was Spencer’s child, it wouldn’t be yours - it would be Spencer’s, or even mine before they were yours, at least legally. The courts would be in my favour, after all who would take care of the child best? A criminally insane woman with no means to provide for herself, the biological father, a government agent who was drugged and statutorily raped, or British multi-millionaire Duchess who has a history of working for the governments and the betterment of the people?” 

“You wouldn’t separate a child from their mother.” Cat denied though there was an glimmer of doubt in her eyes and her voice as she said this. It almost seemed like she cared about the child, though Ella knew that it was more of the ‘it’s my toy, you can’t have it!’ care than the ‘I’m the mother, you can’t take them away from me!’ care. Her face changed into a smile once more, as if she’d just had the most brilliant idea. “You know, I can see why you’re dating Spencie now.” She nodded towards Reid. “Not only do you cheat like him, you have a similar secret, don’t you?” She was smirking, but so was Ella - she’d figured out the secret, the mentions of violence, the idea that pain was actually pleasure, the pieces suddenly fit together.

“That I’ve killed and enjoyed it? That I’ve hurt people without remorse?” Ella answered easily, tilting her head a bit. “It isn’t a secret.” Ella smiled sharply and leaned in closer to see even deeper into Cat’s mind without her noticing. The monster that lurked under the witch’s skin, the monster she’d been molded into, year after year of manipulations that had forced her to become what she was today. “Everyone knows. They’ve seen me torture, and they praise me for it.” Ella leaned back a bit and threw her head back in a light laugh, as if she relished mentioning the pain she caused. “After all, they were the bad guys, they were the ones who killed, raped and tortured thousands of families! Sometimes even in front of their loved ones, in front of children, in front of me. They deserved to die.” Ella spoke as if she were talking to a child, playing up her insanity a bit. 

“Was that the secret then? That Spencer hurt thousands of people and feels no remorse for it?” Ella studied the criminal and paused and stared at Cat, analyzing the way she was starting to tear up from losing. “It was! But that isn’t all of it, is it? No, you wanted it to be even more personal.” Ella leaned in. “That may not be Spencer’s baby, but you wished it was - because in the end, he’s just like you, isn’t he?” Ella cackled this time, and this time Spencer was seeing why those inmates had called her a demon - she was terrifying like this. 

Ella leaned forwards and grasped the sides of Cat’s face, searching her eyes and whispering so that no other would hear what she said, her lips just brushing against Cat’s as she spoke. Despite herself, the woman pulled their bodies flush together, so that she could feel every movement Ella made, luxuriating in the feel of them pressed together. “You think that you and Spencer belong together, maybe you even think that I should be in a relationship with you, we’re all peas in a pod aren’t we? You cheated on your girlfriend and got pregnant with Lionel Wilkins to taunt Spencer, to taunt me. You will find no mercy in this life or the next, Death will have you punished for your deeds.” 

Cat suddenly pushed Ella away from her and onto the ground, holding her hand out to the mirror. Ella was laughing like a hyena on the ground, holding her sides “Gimme a phone.” Cat yelled. “She doesn’t have one on her, gimme a phone.” But it was too late. 

“Poor little Kitten,” Ella mocked, throwing a small piece of paper at Cat. “Adam Daniels, formerly Daniel Adams. He’s feeling the burn of failure, just like you are - I’ve never liked absent parents.” Ella threw her head back and barked a rough laugh. She pushed herself up and glanced at the one way glass, then turned her full attention back on Cat, her eyes closed and started to walk away gracefully. Spencer walked in as Ella made her way out. “By the way,” the red head grabbed Spencer’s arm as he made his way into the room, she felt the need to taunt her a bit more, hurt her a bit more. She grabbed him by the tie to pull him down before give him a passionate kiss, which he responded to a second after she initiated it. She pulled away roughly, her hair coming out of its tie. “Even if he deserves you, he always has me.” The sorceress strode out confidently, a smirk on her lips as she went. She stood in the observation area with Mrs. Jareau and watched as Spencer got the closure he needed after this whole debacle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the inconsistent updates, this one got really long - ten and a half pages! The next chapter is the epilogue and really short, so I should be getting it up really soon! Anyway, enjoy the madness.


	5. And so it Goes

Ella returned to Quantico with JJ and Spencer at the brainiac’s request - she never could deny the man anything, before or now. Once they got there Spencer and Diana observed each other, cataloguing any signs of injuries, before embracing each other. Ella tried to walk around them so that she could apologize to the team, but she was pulled into Diana as she was walking past, Diana including her in the hug as well.

“Hi, Mrs. Reid.” Ella said abashed as Diana petted her hair. She pulled away slightly and took her in. 

“My, you’ve grown Ellie.” She said, a hand on her shoulder. “I’ve told you hundreds of times, call me Diana.” The elder woman smiled and Ella couldn’t help but smile back - it’d been too long since she’d last been called that. Spencer was smiling too, his arm still wrapped around his mother. They made light conversation before Ella excused herself, wanting - no, needing to get away from Spencer. 

The woman walked into the office room where the other Agents had gone to address them. “Hello, I really must apologize to you.” She started, grabbing the attention of all in the room. “I took over your investigation, and started butting in despite the fact that you already had a handle on it, and I probably messed it up.” Ella was looking down now and was starting to ramble. “I am sorry, I just let my emotions get to me, it happens to often. My best friend calls it my saving people thing I just-” She was stopped by their tracker, Luke, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I see why you like Spencer.” He said, his lips upturned slightly. The witch smiled slightly, since he’d broken the ice and started to converse with her regularly, as if she were a friend as well. She really needed more friends, most of hers were either too shallow or were too busy to talk to her these days.

Ella noticed that Prentiss wasn’t there, and decided that she’d apologize to her privately. She’d acted out of turn, and she was already feeling the guilt, she’d always hated it when others stepped on her toes and now she’d done that to the BAU. 

The team started heading up to Prentiss’ office and invited her to join them, which she did happily, interested to see why there were all going. Penelope had left to do some cleaning in her lair, but would be back soon. Alvez, Lewis and Walker having gone to their desks to do some filing. Ella timidly watched as the agents greeted a tall, buff, dark skinned man with a slight beard. She smiled in greeting as each of the agents hugged him, and took his offered hand for a firm shake. “Duchess Elanor Muirigan Potter-Black, it is a pleasure to meet you sir.” She spoke formally, as she’d been told to in her etiquette lessons - a mandatory course the goblins had said every aristocrat needed. 

“Derek Morgan. Nice to meet you too.” He said, he didn’t appear to be disturbed by her formal language, which immediately put him in her good books. However, she recognized the name as well; Spencer had mentioned that he was the partner he’d gotten intoxicated with often, and eventually he was Spencer’s first strike “Anyways, I wish I was just here to say hello, but um,” he paused, rubbing his hands together and pursing his lips, something Ella recognised as a nervous gesture. She started getting a sinking feeling in her stomach. “We may have bigger problems.” He looked Prentiss, who the witch realized was holding what must be Morgan’s phone. “You see what I’m saying about that text, that doesn’t sound like Garcia. You know what it does sound like.” It was a statement, not a question, but Emily answered anyway. 

“A trap.” The chief of the BAU looked at the phone, as did the other agents and Ella got the feeling trouble had found her once more. 

// Bam! I actually finished a story! So, tell me if I should make a sequel or something. If there’s enough interest, I might actually do it. Just saying, the only reason I finished this one is I’m binge watching Criminal Minds before exams and it’s a good stress reliever.


End file.
